Football

Around the NFL: OTA Addition

With just over three months before the start of the 2013 NFL season, HighPhive.com takes a look around the NFL to survey the competition.

Starting in New England, TE Rob Gronkowski will have his fourth surgery of this offseason to repair a broken forearm, and may face an additional surgery to replace a possible herniated disc in his spinal column. Gronkowski is New England’s best offensive weapon not named Tom Brady. While Gronk is expected to recover in time for camp, his recent medical history indicates that nothing is set in stone for the fourth year tight end.

Staying in the AFC East, recent reports more bad news from the New York Jets as recently signed …

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Can Chip Kelly Take the Eagles & the Fanbase Into the Next Era?

Having gone to Eagles games since 1978, I can say with full confidence that this is the most exciting off-season since Hurricane Buddy blew into town. Chip Kelly has a rather large task in front of him. He has to change the mindset of a fan base that has been beaten into submission by the Andy Reid Era. For 14 seasons we were subjected to a weekly demonstration of trying to fit Square Pegs into Round Holes.

Since taking over in January, Chip, and his offense that he employed at Oregon, has been scrutinized, and put under the microscope by every analyst, talk show host, columnist, and bar patron in Eagles Nation. ‘How can he …

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North Broad to the NFL: Interview with Martin Wallace

After enrolling at Temple University as a transfer student from Northeastern University, Martin Wallace quickly made a name for himself on North Broad street. In his second year on the team, he had established himself as the anchor of the offensive line and a leader on the offense. Here is his story about his journey thus far to the NFL.

Q: First of all Martin, thank you very much for taking the time to share a little bit about yourself. Before we get into your journey to the NFL, I wanted to touch a little on your career at Temple University. You obviously had a tremendous career at Temple but looking back over your career, is there a …

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The Science Behind The Use of Music by Chip Kelly

I was one of many Eagles’ fans following the Twitter updates during the team’s OTA Monday. And I was probably one of the many getting annoyed by the flood of tweets regarding Chip Kelly’s music playlist (more football please!). But as seems to be the case more often than not with Coach Kelly, there is a reason for everything. Afterwards, Kelly was asked about including various rock and pop anthems on the practice field. He answered, “There’s some science behind it…” He didn’t have the time to elaborate, but there are indeed football and non-football reasons for it, and I think they go hand-in-hand.

First, let me preface this by saying that my …

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Former Cowboy Joins the Birds; How Will Felix Jones Contribute?

Change has been the theme of the off-season for the Philadelphia Eagles, be it new coaches, new players, new systems, or new practice policies, the 2013 NFL season will have a vastly different feel in 2013.

Announced this week was the singing of former Cowboys’ first round selection, Felix Jones who will complement LeSean McCoy and Bryce Brown nicely in Chip Kelly‘s expected run-heavy offense. Jones signed a one year contract with the Eagles, and is likely to play a role in the Eagles rushing attack, though we do not know what that exact …

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Donovan McNabb to Retire as an Eagle, Time to Retire the Hate

Can we get one thing straight…I want to see a Super Bowl Victory as much if not more than anyone. I have been to almost every Eagles home game since 1979. I have seen great players and teams, and some of the worst football ever played or coached. From Dick Vermeil, to Andy Reid and everything in between. With that said I can’t figure out one thing, Why is there still so much hate for Donovan McNabb?

Since the time he was drafted 2nd overall, and the pick was infamously booed, …

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Chip Kelly Philadelphia’s ‘Hero’? Too Early to Tell; But Getting a ‘Good Feeling’

As NFL rookie camps concluded over the weekend, we now look ahead to the next item on the NFL’s offseason agenda. The penultimate of offseason workout events, the first Offseason Team Activites, or OTA’s, kicked off Monday morning and had a new, distinctive, feel compared to the mini-camps run by Andy Reid for over a decade. The players took the field at the NovaCare complex in South Philadelphia to the sounds of Chip Kelly’s playlist, including such gems as “Turn Me On” by David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj, “Hero” by Nas, and “Good Feeling” by Flo-Rida. While the self-proclaimed “Harajuku Barbie’s” vocalization may seem out of place, the players seem to like …

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Hey Jeffrey Lurie, Bring in Brian Dawkins

When Chip Kelly provided the names of his coaching staff, I was one of many Eagles’ fans hoping Brian Dawkins would be one of them. At one point it even seemed likely, especially after Kelly paid Dawkins a visit at an event Dawkins hosted at Chickie & Pete’s in late January. Alas, it was not so, and I now think Dawkins, while perhaps open to coaching in the NFL one day, is more devoted to his family and would not necessarily want to spend the amount of time away from his wife and children that coaching requires. However, I have a proposal…

Jeffrey Lurie has demonstrated an ability to think outside the box. He also …

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Post NFL Draft Q&A: Shaping the Potential Eagles Roster

With off-season workouts well under way, and the NFL draft in the rear view mirror, lets reflect on the draft, and make some projections for the upcoming season. We asked HighPhive.com contributor and Eagles/NFL Draft Writer for FootballExtraPoints.com Josh Collacchi, and HighPhive leading Eagles contributor/sports analyst for 91.3 WVUD Ben Haley on their thoughts about the Eagles draft.

Q: Lane Johnson of Oklahoma was drafted fourth overall and became the Eagles first round pick on April 25th. How does Johnson fit on the current offensive line for the Eagles? And what does the acquisition of Johnson mean for the future of Danny Watkins, Todd Herremans, and Jason …

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Value-Scoring the 2013 NFL Draft

The three day NFL Draft event is complete and many analysts have already submitted grades for teams as well as individual selections. Admittedly, it’s a bit unfair to judge a team’s draft and their respective selections so early, before players have a chance to prove their worth on an NFL football field. Instead, it may be better to grade the draft based on relative value (although, perhaps no less ambiguous).

Earlier, I created a draft model based on chaos theory principles and ran the simulation 1,000 times. One of the byproducts of that simulation was an average draft position (ADP) for each player. My …

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